Business Management Regulation Act
Enacted by the court system on 14 Su'mo', LY 903. This law regulates the transfer of power and/or ownership within a company. It was designed to ensure that the buying of stocks could not be used as a means of hostile takeover of a company, either from without or within. It states that no owner, head, or board member may be forcibly removed from his or her position within a company without demonstrable just cause, regardless of losing a majority of voting rights through sale of stock. If any member of the existing leadership of a company is voted out by directors or other shareholders, that member may appeal the decision to the courts, which may then overturn the vote unless evidence is provided that the member has conducted his or her business practices in such a way as to be detrimental to the company as a whole. The law further states that, while an individual who works for one company may purchase stock in another company, they shell not be allowed voting rights within the other company. (This applies not only to a company's leaders, but all of its employees.) The law was necessitated by the fact that, after the introduction of the stock market, leadership within many companies was being unfairly wrested from the hands of the presiding owners; sometimes this was done by a conspiracy among a company's board of directors, and sometimes by rival companies. However, the law does not stipulate precisely what acts may be considered "detrimental" to a company. It is generally interpreted as meaning that a member of the company's leadership has acted in a manner contrary to the policies which had previously been established for the running of the business, or otherwise making decisions which consistently lead to the company's financial decline. In a strange turn, the law would later be used by certain gangsters, for reasons having nothing to do with the stock market. In 901 (one year before the existence of the stock market, and two years before this law was passed), Barrie Ferryman was forced out of his position as head of a company in Tanq, after he joined LandOrder. But in 904, three business people, Rocher Zelcorner, Emannus Des'Rosset, and Nicole Kriek, simultaneously joined InterGang. When their respective companies' boards of directors tried to force each of them out, they all appealed, claiming that they would gladly resign if it could be proven that their alleged criminal activities ever crossed with their legitimate business practices, or if their damaged public image led to decreased business for their companies. Of course, the law could not protect them from being arrested, if it was proven that they were involved in criminal activities, but they could still legally be allowed to run their businesses from prison. (And of course, they have never been proven to be involved with InterGang, even if the police have no doubt that they are.) Meanwhile, they have apparently all been careful to keep their companies free of involvement in their gang, and those companies have continued to thrive financially. In 914, the United Villages of the Chaos, Sorret, and West Ocean all adopted the law, as well. See also *List of laws Category:Culture